Cristina Pippa, director of the MFA in Dramatic Writing program at Missouri State University, has earned recognition for her television pilot “Lady Em.” The 60-page, hour-long drama, created as a television series pilot, recently won the Josephson Entertainment Teleplay Award at the Austin Film Festival.

“Lady Em” reimagines the legacy of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth through a contemporary lens. It follows a North Carolina teenager who’s a descendant of Lady Macbeth. She confronts her family’s dark legacy as she comes into her own power while navigating high school and battling actual demons.

Pippa joined the Missouri State Journal to talk about how the story came to life, how it’s evolved, its accomplishment and encourages all to give screenwriting a try.

Learn more about the department of communication, media, journalism and film and screenwriting at Missouri State.

Read the full transcript